Page:The Queens of England.djvu/559

CAROLINE WILHELMINA OF ANSPACH. 507 Honorable Charles Howard, the third son of the Earl of Suf- folk. The marriage was an unhappy one; the young eouple soon found themselves in straitened circumstances, and prob- ably the annoyances which ensued added greatly to their dis- agreements. Mr. Howard was afflicted with a violent temper, and had a weak mind— a very common association ; and as his wife is mentioned even by those little likely to extenuate her faults as amiable and of "unimpeachable veracity," it is fair to return some other verdict than that too commonly pro- nounced— "faults on both sides." To quote from the Memoirs of Lady Sundon, already named : "Toward the close of Queen Anne's reign the young couple saw no better prospect of advancement than to repair to the court of Hanover, there to ingratiate themselves with the fu- ture sovereigns of England. So small was their income, that Mr. Howard being desirous of giving the Hanoverian minis- ters a dinner, his wife was obliged to cut off her luxuriant hair to pay for the expense of the entertainment. This happened at a time when full-bottomed wigs were worn, and twenty or thirtv guineas were often paid for those articles. "The Princess Sophia, mother of George the First, distin- guished Mrs. Howard with her favor ; but the attractions of the young English woman had no effect upon the dull percep- tions of George the Second until his father's accession, when Mrs. Howard was appointed one of the bedchamber women to Caroline, then Princess of Wales. "The Whig party being in vogue, such of the younger no- bility as belonged to it naturally formed the court of Caroline ; and the apartment of the bedchamber women in waiting be- came the place of assembly for all the wits and beauties of that faction. * * * In the chamber of Mrs. Howard all was gayety and thoughtless flirtation of that period. While the Princess Caroline and Mrs. Clayton were discussing theological tenets with a freedom which drew upon them from Swift the odium of being 'free thinkers,' Mrs. Howard was perfecting her manners and character to become the complete courtier. "On the accession of George the Second to the throne, it was her influence which retained Sir Robert Walpole in office. The king had inclined toward Sir Spencer Compton, "who, so far from meditating to supplant the premier, had recourse to Sir Robert, and besought him to prepare the draught of the king's speech. The new queen, a better judge than her hus- band of the capacities of the two candidates, and who had